The Woeful Ones Intermission
by hellohades
Summary: Lydia calls Jackson to find out what he knows. Intermission to The Wild Ones/The Wicked Ones.


**The Woeful Ones  
**_Monsters_

"_**Find what you love and let it kill you."  
**_-_Charles Bukowski_

* * *

_Derek doesn't want Stiles to know._

Lydia calls Jackson as soon as Stiles closes out of the window. Though, a little blown back by the devastation in Stiles' voice and appearance, she tries to remain calm and take everything one-step at a time.

The phone rings in her ear and she holds her breath. Jackson picks up instantly, a grin in his tired voice. "Baby—"

"No. Shut up. What doesn't Derek want Stiles to know?" Lydia demands, her voice stern.

Jackson is quiet on the other line, hesitating. Lydia knows his loyalty is to Derek, but his love is with her—and Jackson can't handle the emotional toll this is going to take on him if he has to choose between his girlfriend and his Alpha.

So Lydia will take the choice away from him.

"Look babe," she begins, her voice softer, but still stern—in the way Lydia's voice almost always seems to be when she's already won something and everyone knows it. "I don't care if you have some stupid pack loyalties to Derek. This is _Stiles,_ and he's my _friend_, and you're my _boyfriend,_ so you're _going_ to tell me. _Now._" She demands, perkily. Her pride swells in her chest as she leans back in her computer chair, confident.

Jackson knows there's a smile laced into her bottom lip. He smirks, scratching his chin as he thinks of what to tell her. Lydia really is his soul mate, no matter how messed up their relationship can get.

The werewolf scoffs and shakes his head. "Look, babe," she can tell he's grinning playfully on the other side still, "all I know is that Derek isn't sick anymore. He doesn't want Stiles to know yet."

Lydia stills in her chair, thinking that statement over. Her brows furrow together as she gnaws on her bottom lip, suddenly worried. "What do you mean _not sick anymore_?" She asks, disgruntled. She leans forward in her chair, bracing herself against her desk in anticipation.

The boy scratches his head and looks down at his palm. He still has training and studying to get to, but maybe this is just marginally more important. Though, Jackson does have to admit, he is a little jealous of the friendship Lydia formed with Stiles.

"I don't know the specifics, but Isaac does. You might be better off calling him, baby." He answers after a long moment of Lydia fidgeting on the line. She doesn't respond, so he sighs and continues. Derek's going to kill him when he finds out.

"Derek just isn't sick with Stiles being gone like he was in the beginning, you know? And Derek's losing his mind over it. He says something about Stiles being claimed by another Alpha, like, I don't know if this'll make sense, but something like that Alpha marked and _claimed Stiles,_ if you know what I mean." Jackson shivers, remembering the howl he heard across the state of his distressed Alpha.

_Matt_, Lydia thinks instantly. That's the only person Stiles has been with since he left home.

"And, something like, now that makes Derek's claim on Stiles void, or some weird shit like that." Jackson sighs and shrugs, and Lydia frowns. "Stiles rejected Derek's claim on him, that's basically what I'm getting from all of it. I mean, who wouldn't? They'd be so messed up together." Jackson rolls his eyes, thinking of the drama and the spastic rift Stiles and Derek's relationship would put in the universe.

Lydia is still quiet on the other line, so Jackson keeps talking, feeding her as much information as he can. "It pretty much saved Derek's life, if you ask me. He would've withered away with Stiles being so far away for so long."

Lydia stares wide-eyed at the wall in front of her. It starts to all make sense and pull together in her mind. Stiles had said Matt was somewhat familiar; in the way his chest rumbled when he was satisfied, in his too-warm skin, in his animalistic gestures.

_Werewolves._

Stiles just hadn't put all the pieces together yet—or if he had, he was choosing to ignore it.

Jackson's voice rings distantly in her ear over the line, bringing her back to reality. "That's pretty much all I got for you."

That's not enough, but Lydia will just have to work with it. She sighs into the phone and Jackson straightens up. "Is something happening?" He asks, wearily. Of course something's happening. It's _Stiles_ they're talking about.

"I'm not totally sure yet." She answers honestly, and from her voice, Jackson can tell she's frustrated. She scratches her head, her mind replaying Stiles' minor-panic attack just minutes ago. Her heart clenches within her breast. "Just bare with me for a second." She begins mumbling to herself, though with Jackson's heightened hearing, he can hear everything she says.

"If another Alpha laid claim to Stiles, that frees up Derek. So Derek isn't sick with Stiles being away from him. Matt could be the other wolf, but—but I mean," she pauses, biting her lip. Matt. It had to be Matt. It just had to be.

"What is it, Lydia?"

"Jackson, t-there's this, there's a boy, at Stiles' school. He's been really interested in Stiles lately. I think, if it all adds up, which it does, I think Stiles is being claimed by an Alpha named Matt. He went to school with us."

Jackson is quiet on the other line. That makes Lydia very nervous.

"Tell me everything you know about him, Lydia."


End file.
